Risen Jesus and the Little Ones

“They hurried away from the tomb, half overjoyed, half fearful, and ran to carry the good news to His disciples.” (Matthew 28)
 
Half overjoyed and half fearful. Doesn’t this perfectly sum up our lives?
                                     ½ overjoyed + ½  fearful = us!

We have been entrusted with the greatest news ever: Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. He has conquered death and sin. We are free! And yet for those of us who were impetuous enough to go to the Easter Vigil, now fear intermingles with the joy. Yes, alleluia! He is risen! He is risen indeed! But how long will Easter joy last on only 3 hours of sleep?
 
We think we have half-worries. You should see Marcel today! You may recall that on Good Friday he was burdened with wearing socks. I didn’t get a chance to report it, but Holy Saturday found the sock situation unresolved. On Jesus’ side, persistence (“wear the socks!”) and on Marcel’s side resistance (“can I take them off?”). Now, in the midst of Easter joy, the foot attire situation has gotten even worse. I almost hate to tell you . . .
 
It's Easter Sunday and Jesus asks:
Little brother, are you happy? Why did you cry a moment ago?” (491)
 
Marcel, with his usual candor, gives it to Jesus straight:

“I feel really sick and I cannot put up with my illness so I had to cry. And there are my sandals: as soon as I walk a little in them, something very dirty comes out of them and sticks to my feet and I find it so painful that I cannot hold back my tears.”
Poor Marcel!
 
 “Suddenly, without warning, Jesus stood before them and said, ‘Peace!’” (Matthew 28)
 
To Marcel, this word “Peace!” is spoken as clearly as Jesus spoke it to the women on Easter morning. The words are slightly different, but the message of our Savior is always the same.
To Marcel (and therefore to us) He says on this day:

“Dear Me! Little brother, that is the sum of your weakness.”

Ah yes, that sum again! ½ fearful + ½ overjoyed = our weakness.
And then another question from the Teacher:
“But when you cry in this way, are you content?”
 
Marcel answers for us, thank Heaven. I wouldn’t know what to say to that question, but our little brother, in the simplicity of his overflowing love for Jesus (no half measures here) says on our behalf, “Yes, I am always content.”
 
The Teacher, our risen Lord, congratulates us on the right answer:

“Then that’s very good. You show by that your great weakness and I have the benefit of your good feelings.”

Oh, Jesus! We are so poor. Be pleased with us in our weakness!
As You well know, we have been concerned about shoes in my house too. For some feet, there were new shoes. For others, a recent airport polishing job wowed us (the shoes were polished in an airport, though the airport may have been shiny too). For myself, well, Lord, You know everything, so You know my shoes don’t ooze black stuff, and thus how can I complain? I am satisfied even if navy blue doesn’t really match everything and the aged and comfortable fit co-exists with a tendency to slip off my feet as I walk . . . What, then, causes my tears in these high Holy Days? I know (and my personal bearded Jesus gently tells me) that these tears are only a sign of my great weakness and a lack of sleep. And You know that deep down I am content. You have given us so many beautiful moments in the liturgies, and best of all, I resembled my brother Marcel in restraining my laughter in church!
 
[We interrupt this blog post to share, in Easter joy, the breaking news that our Good Friday services – and ourselves in the midst of them – were recorded by a professional camera crew on account of our eminent Bishop Barron presiding over the Celebration of the Lord’s Passion here in our rural parish. We venerated the cross along with our fellow parishioners, 39 altar boys, 2 seminarians, 2 deacons, 4 priests, and a bishop! How we all fit in the tiny St. Sebastian’s church is a mystery of the Holy Triduum, but what is even more remarkable is that when our own personal family altar boy showed up holding the book for the bishop, I kept my head and neither laughed nor cried. Beaming with pride and joy was enough. Okay, maybe I cried just a little, but I don’t remember that clearly. And I was definitely content! I shouldn’t have disturbed my husband’s prayer to ask whether I ought to have worn make-up (seeing as how we were being filmed! And I was joking!) but to my credit this was before the service began, not in the midst of the book-holding, kneeling, standing, venerating, etc.]
 
Well, like the stars in Jeremiah’s secretary Baruch’s reading at the Easter Vigil, after our Triduum ups and downs, Marcel and I are now saying “Yes!” and shining joyfully. What has led to this transformation from half fearful to entirely sparkling? Nothing more nor less than the further words of our Beloved Spouse. He is so mighty and so merciful!
 
“The women came up and embraced His feet and did Him homage. At this Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid! Go and carry the news to My brothers that they are to go to Galilee, where they will see Me.’” (Matthew 28)
 
To Marcel and us this day, Jesus says even more than “Be not afraid.”
His love is limitless, as He repeatedly explains to His little secretaries, and this means He must constantly reveal more of His eternal and infinite compassion. And so, in His dialogue with Marcel on this Easter Sunday, Jesus offers words of comfort which I offer to you in His name. It is our Easter mandate, our reassurance, His promise that we are not imagining that God loves us – we are not imagining it nearly enough! To us Jesus says at this moment:
 
“Come, come, little brother, the goodness of your true Father is without measure, as I have told you many times already. Even if, in His Love, He indulged you in everything, filling all your desires, He would never find it enough for His Love; He would only be afraid that you might not have the strength to receive all His treats. Whatever I do to spoil you, I consider it all as being nothing.” (492)
 
On this Easter day – which lasts in full solemnity until Divine Mercy one week hence – I wish for you the fulfillment of all your desires, and even more importantly, the strength to receive all His treats! He loves you endlessly just as you are, in all your weakness, in your tears and laughter, in your utterly original beauty (with or without make-up and/or oozing shoes). He is pouring His love upon you - not only on this Easter day, but throughout the Easter Season (7 weeks!) and beyond, far into eternity! So heed His words with joy - and rest in the glory of His very personal love for you.
 
As to Marcel, I repeat with Jesus: Do not be afraid (or in common parlance, “No worries! It’s all good!). This is the day the Lord has made; He wants us to rejoice and be glad in it, and He doesn't even leave Marcel or us in suspense as to the future of our little brother’s feet. Rather, in His tender solicitude He explains:

“Do not be troubled. I would not be pleased. Remain in peace, your sandals will be dealt with by Love, but you must not worry.”
 
If the shoe fits . . . or in other words, whatever qualifies as your oozing sandals today – for we are still in Exile, even as we celebrate the Victory of Love – remain in peace. Rest assured that Love, having conquered death and sin, will deal with your sandals in due time, but you must not worry. Instead, take a lesson from the women in the Gospel.
 
Before Jesus appeared to the holy women this Easter morning, even before the angel appeared to them and sent them off half fearful, half overjoyed, first they had to get to the tomb. They set out before dawn, and on their way, what did they do? Naturally, reasonably, completely justifiably, they worried.
 
“Who?" they asked each other. “Who will roll back the stone?”
 
Was there ever a more sensible concern? These were tired women (I doubt they’d been getting much sleep since the traumatic incidents of Good Friday), and that was one huge stone.
 
And yet, as it turns out, their worry was the silliest in the entire history of worrying from the moment after Eve crunched into the apple until the last trumpet sounds.  And I love that the best worry ever turns out to be the most unnecessary. This is no accident! I think God is telling us something . . .
 
And so as you worry today (what a panoply of emotions! What a wealth of hysteria available to us on Easter! Worries, Joys, Fears, Peace – do get some rest, if you’re able, and I will try to do the same), remember that Jesus has, actually, taken care of absolutely everything already. (Yes, even the ham and the potatoes.) In His own inimitable words to us through our darling Marcel:
 
“Do not be troubled. I would not be pleased. Remain in peace, your sandals will be dealt with by Love, but you must not worry.”
 
Whether we worry (sometimes we just can’t help it!) or whether we get some sleep, let’s tell Jesus we love Him a lot today and give Him at least one big smile.
Alleluia! He is risen!
He is risen as He said!